1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of farm implements incorporating rotatable discs and is particularly directed toward bearing assemblies for rotatably supporting the discs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous bearing assemblies having similarity to the instant invention have heretofore been developed. In fact, applicant is aware of the following patents pertaining to such devices: Lewis U.S. Pat. No. 2,560,965; Birdwell U.S. Pat. No. 2,580,508; Birt U.S. Pat. No. 2,597,524; McCullough U.S. Pat. No. 2,597,942; McCallum U.S. Pat. No. 2,850,337; Davies U.S. Pat. No. 2,858,757 and Gillies U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,355. None of the above patents suggest or disclose applicant's device which is intended to be incorporated with disc plows and/or harrows, hipper ridgers, or rolling bedder equipment used in seed bed preparation and other farm implements of the type having rotatable disc blades used in land preparation.
The accepted practice used in the manufacturing of disc plows and/or harrows or hipper ridgers is to mount the disc blades on an axle fitted only with radial bearings. The oblique angle of the disc blades when penetrating the soil and moving it laterally causes a great amount of thrust or pull force to be transferred to the bearings. These bearings are designed to absorb radial pressure only, i.e., axle loads, and this lateral force causes damage to the seals eventually resulting in complete failure of the bearings. Replacing these bearings is a continuing source of aggravation for the farmer since he is not only denied the use of the equipment, (usually during a peak work-load period) but the man hours involved in effecting the bearing change is exorbitant and costly, i.e., particularly since the parts become siezed during prolonged usage.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the prior art by and large utilized tapered roller bearings for rotatably supporting the disc structure of the typical farm equipment. However, tapered bearings have a distinct disadvantage in that the adjustment thereof is very critical or maladjustment is rather common. Improperly adjusted tapered bearings cause the seal to quickly fail, allowing dirt to enter the bearing assembly which obviously causes bearing failure. It should be pointed out that the problem of thrust or lateral lateral load acting on the prior bearing assemblies has heretofore been recognized. However, the solution to the problem has been, almost without exception, to incorporate tapered roller bearings which, for the above mentioned reasons, are unsatisfactory.